Retirement Consulting Firm Freedom Fiduciaries Launches PEP

Freedom Fiduciaries, a retirement plan consulting firm launched earlier this year, has brought a pooled employer plan to market with the goal of simplifying qualified retirement plan administration and the assumption of fiduciary liability.

The Boise, Idaho-based firm’s Fiduciary Freedom PEP will be run by its team of qualified retirement advisers, including CEO Shane Hanson, formerly of Empower Retirement, and Cristina Hansen, Freedom Fiduciaries’ vice president and director of client services, who previously worked at Pensionmark Retirement Group.

“Now more than ever, plan sponsors are seeking committed partners who can bring innovative solutions to solve real-life problems in the retirement plan domain,” Shane Hanson said in a statement. “Our PEP is designed to alleviate the burden of day-to-day plan administration and mitigate the escalating fiduciary risk that plan sponsors encounter, enabling our clients to concentrate on their business growth and success.”

Freedom Fiduciaries tapped Empower to be the PEP’s recordkeeper, and Finway Group is the pooled plan provider, third-party administrator and 3(16) administrator, according to the announcement. Freedom Fiduciaries will act as the 3(38) investment manager.

“Having worked with clients every day in this space for the past thirteen years, I have witnessed how retirement plans often fall on their priority list, despite carrying significant liability,” Cristina Hansen, director of client service, said in a statement. ”Our clients have repeatedly expressed the need for simplified solutions, and the Fiduciary Freedom PEP is our answer to their demands.”

PEPs were introduced to the retirement market through the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 as a way for smaller plan sponsors to leverage the scale and administrative advantages of being part of a larger plan. While the qualified retirement plan vehicles have had a somewhat slow start in being adopted, some plan advisers and providers are showing success with the offering.

Payroll provider Paychex Inc. recently noted it has seen double-digit growth in its pooled employer plan in the last 12 months to reach 25,000 plan sponsors, and Aon earlier this year reported its PEP has accumulated retirement saving assets of more than $1 billion.